Normal Looking Angelfish Will Not Eat. Been Over 5 Weeks

Dawson14

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I have a 2.5 year old black angelfish that wont eat. He looks perfectly normal and acts the same as always. The only thing different is he will just stare at the food and watch it. Heck, once in a while he will suck a peice of food in and then spit it out instantly. Its been over 5 weeks. I have no idea whats wrong. He will track the food in the water but never eat a peice. Lilke I said, he will suck a peice in sometimes and spit it out. He will also be agressive with the other fish when they try to eat. He will chase after them and peck them when they go for the food. Which is odd since he wont eat the food anyway.


He is in a 29 gallon tank with 3 other angelfish. The other ones are completely fine.


Water quality is all fine.

Any ideas? I dont know how much longer he can last without eating. He is my favorite. He was my first fish. :unsure:
 
freeze dried blood worms are a great alternative food,which are actually mosquito larvae.
Feed him an occasional treat of live Black Worms and live or frozen brine shrimp.
He obviously has gone off the flakes for some reason, hopefully not due to illness, he might just fancy a change in diet.
Also, (please don't take offence) check the quality of the flakes. Some are really cheap and nasty. Go for a repuatble brand of fish food.

Hope that helps

Emma
 
I buy the premium tetra brand fish flakes. Although maybe that sucks? Do flakes get stale too? I bought a larger container of food and its lasted almost 6 months now. Would that make it go bad and he's just pissed? Ive done blood worms in the past and he didnt seem to like them much. But I'll try it again.
 
Yeah, flakes do go stale, especially over a period of 6 months. Some fish will eat all that is given, others have a more sophisticated pallete
Vary the diet and see how you go.

Good luck mate

Emma
 
I would go with the live or frozen brine shrimp long before bloodworms. Bloodworms tend to constipate angels, as they are a heavy, high protein food. If there is any intestinal problems bloodworms will only make it worse. If there is a constipation problem the roughage in brine shrimp tends to help clear this.

If this doesn't work, which there is a good chance that it won't seeing as the fish has not eaten for five weeks then the fish probably has an internal protizoan problem. This is common in cichlids, more so in discus & angels. I've dealt with this numerous times, here's the usual copy & paste;

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

Don't let the high temp scare you, angels can handle higher than that. I've had them as high as 98 due to a broken heater. Just make sure to have only angels in the tank at that temp. Make sure to have plenty of aeration also, as warmer water holds less O2.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per 10 gallon. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

Five weeks is quite a stretch, I've found that the sooner this is caught & treated the better the success.
 
Wow, that sounds like a handful. I'll try to do that though. I have to go back to school so hopefully my brother will be able to handle it after I have everything in place



BTW, 5 weeks was a conservative estimate. I havnt seen him eat since spring break which was a little over 2 months ago.
 

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